Blonde vs auburn
by niah1988
Summary: Temperance wants to find out a couple of things and, as always, she's being as 'subtle' as a bulldozer. [BB]


Author's note: After the rather pensive chapter I wrote for my other story - Land of the Living (if you haven't read it yet, shame on you!) - the crazy (read 'addicted to laughing') side of me needed a bit of fun. I ended up writing this one-shot here. Enjoy :-)

Author's note 2: I've reposted this thing to get rid of the _horrible_ spelling mistake I dared to make :-) I still can't believe I actually wrote "blond" instead of "blonde", damn it.

Disclaimer: Of course _Bones_ isn't mine, but a girl can dream - right?

- ° **Blonde vs. auburn °** -

"I'm thinking about dyeing my hair."

The bottle of beer he had just lifted to his mouth was left hanging in mid-air. He raised one eyebrow and stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"I said I'm thinking about dyeing my hair."

"Yeah, I thought I heard you say that ..." Sighing he placed the bottle back on the bar. "What I don't get is why you would consider doing that."

Temperance shrugged one shoulder. "It seems fun."

Booth gawked at her, his astonishment written all over his face. _Fun? Did she just use the word 'fun'?_ Something was definitely up. His partner rarely called something 'fun', unless it involved examining a pile of bones. "Is this one of Angela's crazy ideas?"

"Of course not." Temperance huffed.

"Really? Because, no offence Bones, but you're not the type that worries about her hair colour."

"It's not because I spend more than twelve hours a day in a lab that I don't think about my appearance. I'm a woman after all, in case you haven't noticed before." she dryly retorted.

_You bet I have._ He allowed his gaze to travel over her body for a few moments before redirecting it back to her face. _Only a blind man wouldn't have noticed._ He took a swig from his beer. Something was wrong. Temperance was usually never bothered with how she looked. She made sure she had her clothes on right, that she had combed her hair and that she had applied just enough make-up to highlight her exquisitely blue eyes. That was her thing. Dyeing her hair was definitely not. It was complete out of the ordinary! He felt her stare at him. _Right, she expects an answer._

"Of course I know that you're a woman." he said, trying to sound as light-hearted as possible.

A slightly uncomfortable silence settled between them. Temperance began picking at the label on her beer bottle and tried to mask the small victory smile that was tugging at her lips. Of course she had recognized the intense stare he had submitted her body to. She had dealt with enough men to know what had been playing on Booth's mind two minutes ago. _Ah Seeley, you can be so predictable sometimes._

In the mean while Booth was playing with his own bottle, turning it around slowly while staring intensely at it. He was desperately trying to erase the same fact Temperance was mulling over from his mind. He really didn't need her to shove her femaleness in his face; it was bad enough that he had to work with her every day without being allowed to touch her. And then he meant _really_ touching her, in a non-platonic, non-partner-like way.

"What colour would you dye it?" Booth casually asked before sipping his drink.

Temperance seemed to thoroughly think his question through. "Blonde, I think."

He nearly choked on his beer.

"Blonde?!" he exclaimed. "Please tell me you're kidding, Bones!"

"Why would I?" She threw him a confused and slightly annoyed glance.

"Yeah, why would you …" he muttered while taking in her facial expression.

She wasn't joking. Of course she wasn't. Temperance Brennan hardly ever joked. In the short period of time that they had been partners - a year was short if you compared it to the many years he expected them to work together - he had reached a point where he could safely say he knew and understood her better than anyone else. Except for Angela, but she had known Brennan long before he had met her so that didn't really count.

Come to think of it, this whole thing had to be Angela's idea. He was sure of that. Why else would Temperance consider dyeing her beautiful auburn hair? He dared to steal a glance at her. She was picking at her beer bottle again with annoyance written all over her face. She was probably offended because he was openly questioning her mental health. _Dyeing her hair? That's the most stupid idea I've ever heard!_ If Angela had put her up to this, then the artist wasn't as creative as he thought she was.

It was ridiculous to assume that there was a plan hidden behind her words. His partner wasn't the type to keep a hidden agenda.

Little did he know that Temperance had planned the whole thing days in advance. She wanted to find out a couple of things. Normally she would ask Booth whatever she wanted to know, without caring if she was being too direct or not. But she couldn't do that now. The things she wanted to find out were too delicate to be asked about in her usual blunt manner of questioning. Temperance concentrated on keeping the annoyed look on her face. It was vital for her plan that he believed she was annoyed because he was mocking what he thought was an idea that she sincerely considered pursuing. She inwardly congratulated herself with her acting skills. _I should consider joining the theatre._

Booth was still mulling over Brennan's idea of changing her hair colour. _Why would she do such a thing?_ He sighed. There was only one way to find out.

"Alright Bones, I give in. Why do you want to dye your hair blonde?"

Temperance shrugged one shoulder. "I want to see for myself if blondes really have more fun."

_There's that word again. _"Where did you get that from?"

"I read it on a girl's T-shirt while I was getting groceries." _Please let him buy my story._

Booth could hardly contain his laughter. "You're considering changing your hair colour because of a silly statement printed on a T-shirt?"

She glared at him. "It's not just the T-shirt. I've heard plenty of people say that blondes have more fun. What's wrong with wanting to explore that theory?"

"There's nothing wrong with that, Bones." He began twirling his beer bottle around again. "It's just that 'Blondes have more fun' is a catchy phrase people like to use. There's no scientific meaning hidden behind it. I've personally never heard a woman claim she has more fun because she's blonde." He turned his head to look at her. "Seriously now Bones, why do you want to dye your hair blonde?"

She shrugged again. "It seems fun."

"Why would being blonde be any fun?" he asked, bringing his beer bottle to his mouth to take a swig.

"How the hell should I know? Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" she shot back.

This time he sent his beer flying over the bar. Coughing madly he grabbed his napkin to clean up the spray of liquid, all the while tossing an apologetic look in Sid's direction. Temperance watched his conduct with gleaming eyes. _I definitely have his attention now. Right, now a bit of sympathy …_

"Are you all right, Booth?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He coughed the last bits of beer left in his throat away. "Never say such a thing when a guy is drinking. You have to give him a fair warning."

Temperance placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Was I being too forward about your girlfriend?"

"_Former_ girlfriend." he corrected. "We're no longer together so she's my _former_ girlfriend now."

"Oh, I see …" She nodded and removed her hand from his shoulder. Inwardly she was patting herself on the back for breaching the subject so smoothly. So far everything was going exactly as planned. "So technically you're single again?"

"Technically, yeah." Booth said as he signalled Sid to give him another drink.

"You're not seeing anyone at the moment?"

"Not that I know of." he mumbled, temporarily distracted by the full bottle of beer being placed in front of him.

Temperance decided to push her luck a little. "No-one you're interested in?"

Booth's head shot up. "Whoa Bones, we're getting a bit side-tracked here, aren't we?" _How the hell did we go from dyeing your hair to my ex-girlfriend Tessa?_ "We were discussing your farfetched idea of changing your hair colour to blonde, something I still don't understand."

Temperance had to fight another victory smile off her lips. _I got him right where I want._ She put on an indignant face. "What's wrong with wanting to be blonde? It's a regular hair colour, like black … and red … and auburn!"

"Blonde is blonde, Bones. Auburn is …"

"Is what?" she queried.

Booth fell silent, not quite sure how he wanted to finish his sentence. Why had he chosen auburn as an example? _Probably because she is._ He contemplated her hair for a minute. He liked it just the way it was now. The soft auburn colour had appealed to him the minute he had set eyes on her. But it were the reddish undertones that really intrigued him. Every time the sun played over her hair, he couldn't think straight anymore. He lost all sense of coherent speech and could do nothing more then marvel at the sight. It was amazing how a bit of light brought out the reddish tones in her hair, seemingly setting it on fire. It reminded him of the fire burning inside of her, a fire she tried to hide but he knew was there.

"Auburn is what, Booth?" Temperance insisted.

He reached out and took hold of a strand of loose hair. He twirled it around between his fingers, registering how soft it felt while contemplating his next words. He lifted his head to meet her gaze.

"Auburn is … you."

An electric current passed between them as they stared at each other. Booth cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed about his choice of words.

"You shouldn't dye your hair blonde, Bones. Auburn is your natural colour. You shouldn't change it." He let go of her hair, not breaking their eye contact. "It looks good on you. I like it."

Temperance allowed a small smile to appear on her face. Her plan had worked flawlessly. She had reached her goal. Unintentionally Booth had provided her the information she had been after. Now she knew that a) Booth wasn't seeing anyone and b) that he liked her just the way she was, at least her hair colour.

"So you like my hair colour? Reddish tints and everything?"

Booth gave an affirming nod.

"Good, that gives me an opportunity to research another statement involving hair colours."

"And what statement would that be?"

She grabbed her own drink to take a sip, a playful smile dancing around her mouth. With gleaming eyes she dramatically paused for a few seconds, making sure Booth was listening to what she was about to say. She turned her whole body towards him so she wouldn't miss his, probably bewildered, reaction as she dropped yet another blunt statement on his head.

"That redheads are the best in bed."


End file.
